The endless genius of the NFL can’t be completely quantified. But part of pro football’s popularity is burning its image in our culture and our consciousness. While baseball and basketball have their July 4 and Christmas brands, they are afterthoughts, or leftovers, compared to the NFL’s hallmark roll call.

CBS Boston enlisted Chef Will Gilson, who owns the Cambridge restaurant Puritan & Company, and whose ancestors came over on the Mayflower, to explain the art of cooking the perfect Thanksgiving turkey.